How Xenophon’s Oeconomicus is a Response to Aristophanes’...

A significant body of work regarding how Xenophon’s Oeconomicus is a response to Aristophanes’ Clouds has been written in the last few decades, beginning with Leo Strauss’s enigmatic book on the dialogue. And while great consideration has gone into the pronounced relationship between these two works, as well as its relation to Xenophon’s treatises on the arts and his Hiero, the fertile Oeconomicus has many more fruits to yield for us regarding a greater understanding of the coherence of the dialogue to Xenophon’s thought. Xenophon presents much of his thought in a manner that requires readers to constantly keep in mind Plato’s thought but also diligently strive to discern Xenophon’s voice. We can easily recognize the relation of†¦show more content†¦It is a persistent reminder that Zeus Soter [the Preserver] became Zeus Eleutherios [the Deliverer], signifying the transforming notion of freedom in Greece from one stressing fo rtification to actively engaging to ensure the avoidance of slavery. That the Greeks were kept from being enslaved by the Persians fosters good reason to be pious. 6 With both dialogues taking place in this awning of veneration it seems to suggest a retaliation of sorts to the accusations of the impiety of the Socrates depicted in Aristophanes’ Clouds; the Socrates who replaced Dios [Zeus] with dinos [Vortex].7 Demodocus and Theages have to come into the city seeking advice, and as it turns out hoping for advice from Socrates himself, as is later revealed. On the other hand, it is apparently by good fortune that Socrates comes across Ischomachus while he is inside the city on business. Otherwise Socrates would have had to go outside the city walls and visit him on his estate. Demodocus has to gently persuade Socrates to step into the portico, away from the bustle of the agora. Once in they are in the shade we might reasonably infer that the dialogue between Demodocus, Theages , and Socrates takes place while standing since it is an unmentioned detail but also because it is such a short conversation. Ischomachus, however, is already seated in the colonnade when he and the young Socrates initiate their discussion, suggesting the